


6. The Last of the Elvhen

by ellie_effie



Series: Beyond the Veil Artober 2020 [6]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alienages (Dragon Age), City Elves, Elvhen, Kirkwall (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26854870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellie_effie/pseuds/ellie_effie
Summary: “I wish I hadn’t been born with the stupid ears! Then the guards would leave me alone and I wouldn’t have to live in this horrible place!”Merril smiled softly at him. “You don’t mean that! If you hadn’t been born with these ears you wouldn’t be an Elvhen!”“What is an Elvhen, serah?” Rhys asked, trying to control his sobs.
Series: Beyond the Veil Artober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947253
Kudos: 4
Collections: Beyond the Veil's Artober Event





	6. The Last of the Elvhen

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Elvhen

One morning, Merrill was walking back to her little home in the alienage. The sun was coming up from behind the small dirty buildings she had come to love.

On the steps leading down to the alienage, partially hidden by the shadows, were Rhys and Lyra. The twins lived in the house next to hers and were usually the only people in the alienage who were actually nice to her. The girl had her arm around her brother’s shoulder, and Merrill could hear him sobbing while clutching his ears.

“Hey, hey! What’s wrong?” Merrill gently asked, but Rhys turned his reddened face from her. Lyra sighed and ran her hands across his shoulders.

“One of the guards was mean to him, serah. Called him a filthy knife-ear and kicked his legs.” Rhys whimpered when Merrill put her hand on his knee. “So he… He tried to pull his ears off, y’know?”

Lyra gently held down her brother’s hands, and Merrill couldn’t help but gasp: the tips of Rhys’s ears were scraped and bruised, as if he had spent hours pulling at them with his nails.

“Oh, Rhys! You shouldn’t have done that, you could have seriously hurt yourself!”

“More than they hurt me every day?!” the little boy screamed, tears streaming down his face. “I wish I hadn’t been born with the stupid ears! Then the guards would leave me alone and I wouldn’t have to live in this horrible place!” 

Merril smiled softly at him. “You don’t mean that! If you hadn’t been born with these ears you wouldn’t be an Elvhen!”

“What is an Elvhen, serah?” Rhys asked, trying to control his sobs.

The mage took a vial of elfroot potion from her belt and poured some of the liquid in her hands. “An Elvhen is a descendant of the greatest empire this world has ever seen.” She tenderly started rubbing some of the potion on the tips of Rhys’s ears. “There was a time when our people strode this land like gods, and all the magic and all the art we made was filled with such beauty that made even the gods weep.”

“But we can’t be Elvhen, serah.” Lyra said, frowning. “We don’t have the markings on our faces.”

“It’s not the vallaslin that makes us Elvhen, Lyra!” Merrill explained with a chuckle. “It’s not in the trees we plant, nor in the gods we worship.” Merrill put her hand over her heart. “It’s in our blood. It is the very essence of what makes us elves. It is… what  _ we are _ .”

Rhys had calmed down and was looking intently at Merrill. Solemnly, Merrill held out both her hands and each child took one.

“The next time you feel afraid, just remember: we are the last Elvhen. We cannot and we will not submit.”

Both kids nodded and Merrill kissed their foreheads. After that day, none of the kids tried to pull at their ears again. 


End file.
